Sometimes the easy choice is the best choice
The NBA season was among the victims of corona shutdown and the season was put on hold after some 63-67 games out of 82. The regular season to this point had not seen too many surprises: Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James in charge were leading the Western Conference, chased by their local rivals Clippers. The Western conference offensive juggernauts Houston Rockets have struggled defensively, falling to 5th place and were bested by 3rd Denver Nuggets and 4th Utah Jazz. In the East it was supposed to be Bucks and 76ers. Challenged by reigning champions Toronto Raptors – now without Kawhi Leonard – and somewhat weakened Boston Celtics. And what do you know, Bucks are leading the East, followed by Toronto and Boston. Miami Heat had leapfrogged Philly on the fourth spot, which might have been the biggest surprise so far in the season. If you take a look back at some of the NBA picks the experts made in the preseason, most of them still hold true now.
With the season in question, there’s been several ideas bounced around on how to get the season done and dusted. One of those ideas would be to finish the games in a neutral venue in a shorter time period and more compact schedule. But which team would be the best bet to win it all if the season is to finish on a neutral ground.
First of all, the home court advantage is huge in the NBA. In the west, top 10 teams and in the east top 9 teams are all above .500 at home. Respectively only seven teams in the west and only four teams in the east have posted a winning record on the road. Playing constantly on a neutral court is likely to cancel the home court advantage, but it might not exactly be considered as a road game either. With no home court advantage, it will be interesting to see which way the NBA public betting sides with in these games. One of the easiest ways to beat the sportsbook is to take them off on their sportsbook bonus offers for free money and bet on the team with home court advantage.
The odds currently on offer to win the NBA 2019-2020 finals have set Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks as the most likely winners with +250. Challengers in the west include Clippers at +330 and – with quite some distance – Rockets at +1300. Putting up some threat are Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz with +3000. In the east, Toronto, Boston and surprise team Miami share the challengers’ burden with odds of +2000. Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder are long-shots with +6600 and +8000.
While Bucks and Lakers are certainly the hands down favorites, both teams are also excellent on the road. Lakers have actually won more games on the road than at home, 0.813 to 0.742, making them by far the best away team in the NBA. Bucks are then the second best, with 0.735 to 0.903. Safe to say, with these NBA odds, Lakers with their experienced lineup and superstars James and Anthony Davies, alongside with Kyle Kuzma, Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Avery Bradley and others, would be the best, if easy and obvious, bet to take the championship under the exceptional circumstances.
